LIABILITY has been admitted by defendants in a case taken by a couple who claimed their healthy unborn baby was terminated after they were wrongly advised he had a fatal foetal abnormality.
Rebecca Price and Patrick Kiely, from Phibsborough, Dublin, brought separate cases arising from the termination of their unborn son.
Rebecca Price and Patrick Kiely leaving the Four CourtsCredit: www.collinsphotos.com
In the High Court today, Mr Justice Paul Coffey was told liability had been conceded in the case which will now proceed as assessment of damages only.
The couple held hands in court as the judge was told liability had been conceded in full by the defendants.
Ms Price and Mr Kiely have sued five consultants practising at ­Merrion Fetal Health, Lower Mount Street, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin, the National Maternity Hospital and a laboratory, the Greater Glasgow Health Board.
In their action they said they were expecting their first child with an estimated delivery date for early September 2019. Ms Price, 38, claims a week after an ultrasound scan in February 21, 2019, she was told the foetus tested positive for Trisomy 18.
Trisomy 18 is a rare chromosomal condition affecting how long a baby may survive.
After a second ultrasound, her samples were sent to the Glasgow lab for testing and she was advised it revealed Trisomy 18 had been detected, it is alleged.
On March 11, 2019, she claims she was wrongly advised by her consultant on matters including the non-viability of her pregnancy. She claims she followed advice to terminate her pregnancy days later.
It is claimed the result of a full Karotype analysis was later furnished to the defendants which revealed the foetus did not have Trisomy 18.
On learning the result, Ms Price claims she suffered intense nervous shock, having realised she had terminated a normal, healthy baby.
A mum of a ten-month-old found her son had spent almost 7,000 upgrading her car after playing with her iPad.